FIJI: Too many whites in media says academic
Updated
The man who wrote a report urging that expatriate journalists and media executives not be allowed to work in Fiji has defended his recommendations, as regional condemnation of the deportation if Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter grows. Dr James Anthony, a Hawaii-based academic, says the Fiji media still has too many whites in important positions, and he stands by his report which urges that no more work permits be granted for foreigners. The Media Council of Papua New Guinea has joined with other media organisations around the Pacific, including the Pacific Islands News Association, in strongly opposing the deportation of Mr Hunter.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speakers: Dr James Anthony, a Hawaii-based academic author of the Fiji Human Rights Commission report. Media Council of Papua New Guinea President, Oseah Philemon.
ANTHONY: Many journalists in Papua New Guinea are shocked, because first of all, Hunter has worked in Papua New Guinea for a long time and he's well regarded, well respected. He used to run Work Publishing, which is a news company owned by the churches in Papua New Guinea. He's also married to a Papua New Guinean woman and when he went to Fiji, everyone thought he was moving on to greener pastures for himself and his family. So when the deportation came, it came as a shock to all of us. We could not understand why this was happening to him.
HILL: Fiji's Interim Defence Minister, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, defending Russell Hunter's removal says any foreigner can be told to leave based on reliable information where the foreigner has conducted himself in a manner that's prejudicial to the peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, security or good governance of Fiji. He wouldn't elaborate though, saying the government is not obligated to divulge what information it received about Mr Hunter, saying that could have an impact on national security. Oseah Philemon says such arguments are weak.
PHILEMON: That's absurd, that's absurd. I mean they have to re-rectify what they mean by national sovereignty. How on earth can a journalist undermine national sovereignty? And what has Russell Hunter done that has undermined the national integrity or national sovereignty of Fiji? That is unbelievable. It is totally over-reaction and it just proves that Fiji remains under the barrel of the gun and the army boys can just run wild with their politician friends and do anything they want to do against anybody. And journalists unfortunately because of the type of work they do are always at the forefront of this sort of treatment.
HILL: Meanwhile, the man who wrote a report on Fiji's media urging tougher restrictions on foreigners and the introduction of sedition laws similar to those in Singapore, has defended its call for a white ex-patriots to be removed from positions of influence. Hawaii-based academic, Dr James Anthony, says although the Fiji media boycotted its hearings, many people he spoke to felt passionately about the influence of non-Fiji citizens in the media.
ANTHONY: They said, look, Fiji's been independent for 40 years now almost and after 40 years we still have fundamental ownership and control of the media in Fiji, in foreign hands; that the controlling gatekeeper positions in the media are held by whites. I thought about that and I said my God, you know. I'm a citizen of Fiji, I grew up in Fiji. These people are right. Forty years into independence and we're still relying on the expatriates to hold down very important critical gatekeeper positions in the communications industry. There is something fundamentally wrong with this.
HILL: What do you think is the problem though with expatriates holding these positions in the Fiji media?
ANTHONY: I think most expatriates who come to Fiji are humbled by the fact that many of them have little in the way of a fundamental intellectual understanding of the culture and the history of the country. Few, if any of them, speak any of the languages that are spoken in Fiji except English and English, I might remind you, is simply the residue of British colonialism. They don't understand the subtleties of body language, they don't understand the subtleties of race, they have little in the way of a fundamental understanding of issues that are related to how things are done in a different culture. They are slow on the uptake, they live like Russell Hunter did in a gated community, electronic gate and the works.
